Michele Gillen worked in the Miami market as an investigative and was known for her dogged work exposing injustices, has passed away.

Gillen started in the Miami market in 1980, working at WPLG. In the late 80’s Gillen jumped to NBC, working for the show Dateline NBC. NBC pushed her back to local news at WTVJ, following a scandal at Dateline over staged crash tests on General Motors trucks.

She later moved to LA and KCBS for a brief time, before returning to Miami and WFOR. Her time at WFOR, the CBS O&O did not end well and she ended up suing the station and coming to a settlement with CBS after filing the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Gillen says she saw "woman after woman" over age 40 face discrimination through abusive treatment and prevented opportunities — then be systemically pushed out. Those who went to human resources found resistance in the form of questions such as "Are you sure you want me to write your complaint down and send it to New York?" Ultimately, many of them simply walked away by resigning or signing confidentiality agreements, she says.

Gillen spent her career fighting for the “little guy” and it ended with her fighting for herself and other women in this business.

That was Michele Gillen, dead at 66 years old.